Transnational governance refers to

governance Governance is the overall complex system or framework of Process, processes, functions, structures, Social norm, rules, Law, laws and Norms (sociology), norms born out of the Interpersonal relationship, relationships, Social interaction, intera ...

that applies beyond the boundaries of

sovereign state A sovereign state is a State (polity), state that has the highest authority over a territory. It is commonly understood that Sovereignty#Sovereignty and independence, a sovereign state is independent. When referring to a specific polity, the ter ...

s while stopping short of full integration at the global level, or

global governance Global governance (or world governance) refers to institutions that coordinate the behavior of transnationality, transnational actors, facilitate cooperation, resolve disputes, and alleviate collective action problems. Global governance broadly ...

. The state remains a key player in transnational governance but other actors from business, civil society, academia, amongst others, can play key roles in the development of global and regional policies as well as building structures of transnational administration. Within a

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

framework, it is both a subset of governance in general and an application of it to situations outside its usual limits of corporate or governmental hierarchies, whether regional or national. When such disparate hierarchies within the EU find common goals, typically within a conterminous geographic area, they seek to achieve them by integrating their various policies and activities. The goals of transnational governance, especially for areas previously divided by the

Iron Curtain The Iron Curtain was the political and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. On the east side of the Iron Curtain were countries connected to the So ...

or pre-EU barriers to

free trade Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold Economic liberalism, economically liberal positions, while economic nationalist politica ...

and movement of peoples, is to foster economic and social development.

Background

The

economic development In economics, economic development (or economic and social development) is the process by which the economic well-being and quality of life of a nation, region, local community, or an individual are improved according to targeted goals and object ...

could be defined as the increase of

wealth Wealth is the abundance of valuable financial assets or physical possessions which can be converted into a form that can be used for transactions. This includes the core meaning as held in the originating Old English word , which is from an ...

of a country or a region and the social development could be loosely defined as the improvements of quality of living for the population. Economic and social are, or at least should be, inseparable concepts. Why reach a high economic development if the inhabitants living in the area don't see any benefits of that improvement? In the current global political and economic landscape, particularly within the backdrop of

globalization Globalization is the process of increasing interdependence and integration among the economies, markets, societies, and cultures of different countries worldwide. This is made possible by the reduction of barriers to international trade, th ...

, there is an increase in

privatization Privatization (rendered privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation w ...

. This means that business has started to play an important role in the international order. A related phenomenon called public-private partnerships (PPPs) is seen as an offshoot of this development. Critics, however, cite that a dominance of the private sector and the global capital in the world today is dangerous since it tends to undermine international cooperation and equity among states. There is global consensus, therefore, regarding the need for transnational governance that can regulate and address the gaps on

global issues A global issue is a matter of Social issue#Types of social issues, public concern worldwide. This list of global issues presents problems or phenomena affecting people around the world, including but not limited to widespread social issues, econ ...

and crises like poverty, climate change, disease, terrorism, and financial crises, among others. The state-centric Westphalian international order is unable to cope with these transnational threats, calling for multilateral collaboration that does not only involve states but also other international actors such as non-governmental organizations and multinational companies.

Social and economic impact

Reach social and economic developments are already a challenge but it's even more challenging in a transnational area such as the greater region. Some projects were created in order to foster these developments. The operational program Interreg IV A, “grande region” has for main objectives to make the greater region more attractive, encourage innovation, improve the numbers of high quality jobs, etc. The improvement of the economic and social situation could be analysed through the example of the Vienna-Bratislava-Györ triangle which is a cross border area including three countries (

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

and

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

) that were once part of the same empire.

Good governance Good governance is the process of measuring how public institutions conduct public affairs and manage public resources and guarantee the realization of human rights in a manner essentially free of abuse and corruption and with due regard for t ...

could lead to the adoption of a common identity which could lead to mutual support between people, companies or authorities sharing this common identity. Concretely, we observe a high amount of

Foreign direct investment A foreign direct investment (FDI) is an ownership stake in a company, made by a foreign investor, company, or government from another country. More specifically, it describes a controlling ownership an asset in one country by an entity based i ...

s (FDI) coming from Austria in order to develop the general situation of Slokia and Hungary. This is very well descriptor in this citation of Tatzberger (2007) : “Foreign direct investments (FDI) play an important role in restructuring and improving the

competitiveness Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, individ ...

of industry and

manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of the secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer ...

by helping to raise

productivity Productivity is the efficiency of production of goods or services expressed by some measure. Measurements of productivity are often expressed as a ratio of an aggregate output to a single input or an aggregate input used in a production proce ...

and to expand

export An export in international trade is a good produced in one country that is sold into another country or a service provided in one country for a national or resident of another country. The seller of such goods or the service provider is a ...

s. It has been one of the driving forces behind industrial restructuring in Hungary and Slovakia”.Gabriele Tatzberger, Territorial Cohesion and the European Model of Society (Book), The Vienna-Bratislava-Györ Triangle The European Model of Society in Action, edited by Andreas Faludi However, it has to be said to huge economic and social disparities could be seen a real threat to the process leading to the creation of a common identity. For instance, the migration of workers stays underdeveloped because of Austrian fears and restrictions. On one side workers mobility is seen as an important force in enhancing

economic integration Economic integration is the unification of economic policies between different states, through the partial or full abolition of tariff and Non-tariff barriers to trade, non-tariff restrictions on trade. The trade-stimulation effects intended by ...

of the region but on the other side it could lead to real changes in the social structure especially in Austria due to the migration of very low qualified workers. An important brain drain could also appear which will make highly decrease the number of educated people who could have been able to develop and teach regional strategic development plan.

Notes

References

Gabriele Tatzberger, Territorial Cohesion and the European Model of Society (Book), The Vienna-Bratislava-Györ Triangle The European Model of Society in Action, edited by Andreas Faludi {{World government Globalization International relations Political philosophy Transnationalism

Background

Social and economic impact

See also

Notes

References